LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 
BV4^3o 

Shelf *V«5l 

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. j 



i 



I 



i 







WHY SHOULD I 


JOIN 


THE CHURCH ? 


BY 




MARVIN R. VINCENT, 


D.D., 


NEW YORK. 





BY MARVIN R. VINCENT, D.D. 

The Law of Sowing and Reaping. 18mo, Paper 

Cover, 10 cents. 
Christ at the Door. ISmo, Paper Cover, 10 cents. 
What is it to Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ ? 

{Seventh Thousand.) 18mo, Paper Cover, 10 cents . 

or 32rno, without Cover, 4 cents. 
Why Should I Join the Church ? 18mo, Paper 

Cover, 10 cents. 
Not Discerning the Lord's Body. 18mo, Paper 

Cover, 10 cents. 
The Two Prodigals. 18mo, Paper Cover, 20 cents. 

" " 18mo, Cloth " 40 

"A most excellent and pointed exposition of the 
Pearl of Parables." 



STRANGER AND GUEST. 

containing 

The Law of Sowing and Heaping, Christ at the Door y 
What is it to Believe, etc., Why Should I Join 
the Church? Not Discerning the Lord^s 
Body. 18mo, Cloth, 75 cents, 

Anson D. F. Randolph & Company, 

900 Broadway, Cor. 20th St., New York. 

Sent by mail, free of expense, on receipt of the price. 
Fractional amounts can be remitted in postage-stamps. 



WHY SHOULD I JOIN THE 

OF Co 



MARVIN R VINCENT, D.D., 



NEW YORK. 



A s of coiiei 
V//, 1879.' 



NEW YORK: 
ANSON D. F. RANDOLPH & COMPANY, 

000 BROADWAY, COR. 20th STREET, 



COPYRIGHT, 1879, BY 

Anson D. F. Randolph & Company. 



Edward O. Jenkins' P^int, 
> North William Street, N. Y. 



"WHY SHOULD I JOIN 
THE CHURCH?" 



" From whom the whole body fitly joined together and 
compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to 
the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh 
increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love." — 
Eph. iv. 16. 

The point of special consideration in this 
text, is that the efficiency and healthfulness 
of the whole body is secured by the combi- 
nation of many parts. Every part works 
effectually; every joint supplies something; 
and so the whole body, by means of the 
harmonious and effectual working of its 
various members, is a healthy and beautiful 
unit. 

This principle of strength through union 
has embodied itself in one of the most fa- 
miliar of our popular proverbs. Yet, famil- 
iar as it is, it is astonishing how often it is 
ignored in some of its moral and religious 
applications. 

And at no point, perhaps, is this more 

3 



WHY SHOULD I 



noticeable than in the views which are en- 
tertained by very many persons respecting a 
union with the Christian Church. 

" Why should I join the Church ? " is a 
question very often asked by men and 
women whom we must believe to be con- 
scientious. Why can not I, supposing I am 
truly a Christian, be as good, and do as 
much good outside the Church as in it ? 

The question indicates a reluctance to 
take the step of public profession. It may 
arise from various causes. Perhaps from 
timidity, from a shrinking from publicity. 
Perhaps from a very deep sense of the 
solemnity of the obligations to be as- 
sumed, and a consequent fear of dishon- 
oring a public profession. Perhaps from 
a lurking hesitation to commit one's self; an 
unconscious wish to keep some way of es- 
cape open. Ecclesiastical obligations ma}' 
present a barrier to conscience. Or one may 
hesitate on the ground of conscious un- 
worthiness. He does not feel himself good 
enough to unite with the Church. 
4 



JOIN THE CHURCH? 

I wish to try and answer for some of 
these, if not for all, the question, Why should 
I join the Church ? Let us then take cer- 
tain classes of objectors to this act, and, as 
far as time will allow, attempt to answer 
them in order. 

First comes one with the Bible in his 
hand. " Show me where I am commanded 
here to join the Church. Give me chapter 
and verse." I like challenges of that kind. 
If a man is sincerely disposed to refer every- 
thing to the Bible, and to stand or fall by 
that, he will not go very far astray. 

I reply then, to him : I do not know that 
there is anywhere in the Bible an express 
command, " thou shalt join the Church." 
Yet this may be, and the duty be none the 
less a scriptural one. Some duties the Bible 
leaves us to infer; and the obligation in 
such cases is no less stringent than when it 
is distinctly prescribed. 

There is, in the first place, a plain state- 
ment of Christ, that His true followers are 
to confess Him before men: " Whosoever 

5 



WHY SHOULD I 



therefore shall confess me before men, him 
will I confess also before my Father which 
is in heaven," Matt. x. 32. 

But it will immediately be said by our 
objector that this has no necessary bearing 
on Church membership ; that it means only 
that Christians are to be consistent with 
their professions, and to set a holy example, 
and to let their light shine in good works 
and Christlike dispositions. 

And surely this is true. No profession 
of faith, no confession of Christ, however 
made, is of the slightest value without the 
witness of the good profession in the daily 
life. I insist upon this. 

Yet it may fairly be asked if this is all : 
and in order to answer this, we must try to 
ascertain how Christ Himself regarded the 
matter ; and thus we have to meet this ques- 
tion : Were the circumstances such as to 
lead us to suppose that Christ had in His 
mind, as a part of the confession which He 
enjoined, a union with a body of believers ? 

Now, a Christian community was not an 
6 



JOIN THE CHURCH? 

accident of Christ's ministry, nor was it an 
arbitraiy institution. It was a necessity. 
The moment a man embraced Christ's 
teaching, he entered upon a region of new 
ideas and principles, new affinities and de- 
sires, which separated him measurably from 
the society about him, and set him in direct 
opposition to much of its spirit and practice. 
Several forces therefore operated to draw 
Christ's followers into a community. The 
human social instinct, the longing for hu- 
man companionship and sympathy, set each 
man, the moment his faith and practice cut 
him off from society, or put him at odds 
with it, looking round for a brother in the 
same circumstances. Their weakness would 
naturally combine them for defense. Their 
common experience would develop mutual 
sympathy; and then, above all, they had 
a visible point of union. However they 
might be affected toward each other, they 
had a common love and admiration and 
reverence for Christ, which organized them 
round Him, made them co-operate to- 

7 ■ i 



WHY SHOULD T 



ward the same ends, use the same means, 
and seek the same rewards. When, then, 
a man confessed Christ in the days of His 
early ministry, he necessarily identified him- 
self with a community. When Christ said 
" follow me," he who obeyed must needs 
follow in company. The society of the 
time knew him not only as a follower of 
Jesus, but as a member of a party. And 
so those who charged Peter with his disci- 
pleship, not only said, " Thou wert with 
Jesus of Nazareth," but " Thou also art one 
of them" Matt. xxvi. 73. 

If you study the words of our Lord to His 
disciples, especially in that last most memor- 
able discourse, you will notice how His coun- 
sel is framed for a community ; how much 
stress is laid upon their union in Him, and 
their mutual love and helpfulness. And when 
He is about to ascend to the Father, His 
last words provide not only for the preach- 
ing of the Gospel to every creature, but for 
baptism— the universally recognized seal of 
incorporation with a body of believers. 
8 



JOIN THE CHURCH? 



There can be no manner of doubt of 
Christ's intent to form a Christian com- 
munity ; and those who came fresh from 
daily converse with Him, under the special 
enlightenment and power of the Spirit which 
He had promised, spoke of the Church as 
an existing and recognized institution. The 
multitude converted at Pentecost are de- 
clared to have been added to the Church as 
a matter of course. The apostles always 
acted upon this assumption. When a man 
professed faith in Jesus Christ, he was at 
once baptized and enrolled in the Church. 
It never seemed to have entered the minds 
of the apostles that a man could be a Chris- 
tian and not a church member. They 
would ordinarily have refused to believe in 
his sincerity if he had refused to receive 
baptism after declaring that he believed in 
the Son of God. 

And the apostles, who surely ought to 
have known the mind of Christ in this mat- 
ter better than any other men, uniformly 
represent the Church as Christ's special 



WHY SHOULD I 



care. The Church is " the bride ; the Lamb's 
wife," Rev. ix. i. He redeemed it with Plis 
precious blood. He "gave Himself for it," 
Eph. v. 25, that He might purify a people 
to Himself. He walks amid the seven gold- 
en candlesticks in the Apocalyptic vision, 
and says they are the "seven churches," 
Rev. i. 20. 

If, then, Christ instituted a Church, a 
body of believers ; if this institution was to 
Him a dear and cherished intent ; if the 
organization is the object of His peculiar 
love and care ; if those who received their 
instructions directly from Him, insisted 011 
union with the Church as the medium of a 
Christian profession — it seems to me that a 
true regard for Christ binds us no less than 
those of apostolic days to confess Him 
through the same medium, and to honor 
what He so loved as to shed His blood for 
it. That on which Christ laid such special 
stress ; that which He was at such awful 
cost to establish ; that for which He so 
mightily prayed,, must have a part, and no 
m 



JOIN THE CHURCH? 



small part, to bear in our Christian profes- 
sion and life. 

But, further than this, Christian ideas have 
penetrated society to that degree that the 
outward distinction between a Christian and 
a man of the world, is not as sharp as it was 
then. To be a Christian now is to be re- 
spectable ; whereas then it was to be an 
outcast. And Christian ideas have toned 
up morality to such a point that the differ- 
ence between a Christian and a moralist is 
not at once patent. And hence it follows 
that Church membership helps to emphasize 
this difference. Society may honor a man's 
uprightness and benevolence ; but he iden- 
tifies himself closely and decisively with 
Christian sentiment and Christian work by 
Church membership, as he can not do in 
any other way. If his integrity and amiability 
and liberality are impelled and maintained 
by Christ, he owes it to Christ, and he owes 
it to the world, to let the fact be known. 
Society ought not to be left to conclude, as 
it will conclude, without some formal ac- 

ii 



WHY SHOULD I 



knowledgment of his Christian allegiance, 
that these ripe and fair results are the fruit 
of natural goodness alone. 

But here comes another objector — a well- 
satisfied man, who says, " What need have 
I of the Church ? I can be as good, and do 
as much good outside as in it." 

I wonder how far you are willing to apply 
the same rule. Some of you, I dare say, 
served during our last war, and know some- 
thing about military matters. Suppose one 
of you had gone to his commander on the 
eve of an engagement, and said, " I want to 
be excused from going into the ranks to- 
morrow. I see nothing that is to be gained 
by these movements in regiments and com- 
panies. I want to fight ; I have a good 
rifle and plenty of ammunition ; I am a 
good shot, and have experience enough to 
take care of myself ; so I should just like to 
move round the field and shoot when and 
where I please." I suppose that you would 
have been sternly ordered to the ranks, or 
else sent to the guard-house. What would 
12 



JOIN THE CHURCH? 



become of an army, each man thus manceuver- 
ing by himself? The enemy, with his close 
battalions, would sweep it away like a flood. 

Let one come to your office and say, 
" How foolish of you to maintain a partner- 
ship. Each of you is a good, safe business 
man ; why not each conduct business for 
himself?" You would probably reply, 
" Neither of us has capital enough to carry 
on such a business as this ; but our joint 
stock enables us to conduct it with profit." 
The principle is familiar enough ; the prin- 
ciple of the wise man's words, "Two are 
better than one, because they have a good 
reward of their labor." The power of the 
one soldier incorporated with that of ten 
thousand other men is multiplied twenty 
fold. Your hundred dollars thrown in with 
a million is a greater power than if used in 
some little investment. Your business, 
founded on the joint capital of yourself and 
your partner, yields larger returns than the 
two capitals separately employed. Why 
now evade the application of the same 

13 



WHY SHOULD I 



principle to the Church ? You call your- 
self a Christian. You say Christ has a right 
to your services. You have a certain 
amount of power to invest for Him. The 
question is where your five or ten talents 
will turn the largest interest. The Church 
has accumulated a large capital of experi- 
ence and piety and influence. She has her 
methods matured. She knows the fields of 
effort. She has machinery to carry out her 
plans. It is fair to presume, is it not, that 
your stock of knowledge, or piety, or means 
will work to greater profit under some such 
organized economy than by itself; that your 
inexperience will get its best training and 
direction among those who have for long 
years been studying and prosecuting the 
ends of Christian enterprise ? This is the 
mere business basis. There is something 
more than this. 

Those are very exceptional men that de- 
velop a sustained enthusiasm through years 
of lonely w T ork. Most of us need the con- 
tact and sympathy of a body of fellow work- 
14 



JOIN THE CHURCH? 

ers to keep jur zeal at the proper pitch. 
Hands will hang down now and then, and 
feet grow weary and stumble. " Woe to him 
that is alone when he falleth ; for he hath not 
another to help him up," Eccles. iv. 10. 
Even in the Church itself you will now and 
then find one who, through diffidence or nat- 
ural reserve, keeps his Christian experience 
mostly to himself — never tells any one about 
his trials or temptations ; and usually you 
will find that that person thinks no one 
was ever tried as he is ; that his experience 
is quite peculiar. And if you can once 
break through that reserve, and draw him 
into a free conversation with two or three 
experienced, warm-hearted Christians, you 
will find the man begin to open his eyes. 
He is not quite so peculiar as he thinks. 
He finds that other people have known 
something of the rough places of Christian 
life as well as himself; and he goes away 
from that circle with a new spring of cheer 
in his heart ; with a glimpse of a way out 
of his straits ; with a new courage won from 

15 



WHY SHOULD I 



a brother's intelligent sympathy, and a new 
antidote for his trouble gathered from a 
brother's larger experience. If a man is in 
danger of such a mistake within the circle of 
Church influences, how much worse is his 
case who keeps aloof altogether from Church 
fellowship. He will make sad work of try- 
ing to be a lonely Christian. He will get 
into a great many difficulties which he 
might easily escape, and be ignorant of a 
great many things which he might know. 
It may be said that Christ has promised Mis 
sympathy and help to His troubled follow- 
ers, and that these are better than any- 
thing that men can give. That is true, 
and you will find it true if Christ ever shall 
call you to go out into the wilderness alone 
with Him ; but meanwhile remember that 
Christ makes His children His agents in im- 
parting many of His choicest blessings ; 
and that therefore in rejecting Christian 
fellowship it is possible to cut one's self off 
from Christ's presence and from Christ's 
gifts. 

16 



JOIN THE CHURCH? 

And then it is in a man's religious devel- 
opment, very much as it is in his develop- 
ment in other things. Let him pursue his 
own way; isolate himself from society; shut 
himself up with books ; make himself, as the 
phrase goes- — -and it is rare that such a 
man's development is not one-sided. He 
may have power and learning, but society, 
in its infrequent contact with him, will find 
him as full of sharp points as a rough mass 
of quartz. He will be opinionated, narrow, 
conceited ; and society will either drop him 
altogether, or else handle him without ex- 
cessive tenderness. In short, after a man 
has acquired all that his books, and his 
schools, and his own industry and talent 
can give him, there is an element necessary 
to complete him, which nothing but human 
contact, and a good deal of it, can give 
him. Solitude never develops ripe and well- 
rounded men, though it often nurses men of 
power. And, I repeat, it is just so in Chris- 
tian development. A man's views of truth, 
his moral estimates, the general tone of his 

17 



WHY SHOULD I 



religious life, the character of his teaching, 
all require something which only Christian 
fellowship can give them. Even our Sav- 
iour would not pray that His disciples 
.should be taken out of the world, John xvii. 
15. Rather He said: 44 Go into all the 
world," Mark xvi. 15. Society is the very 
atmosphere in which Christian experience 
unfolds best, and a Christian in habitual 
solitude is as much out of his element as 
a fish upon dry land. The worst specimens 
of religious character are those who refuse 
the clasp of a brother's hand. 

Another objector appears; one to whom 
our hearts go out in love and admi- 
ration for his high conscientiousness. He 
says : " I am not good enough to enter the 
Church. The obligations are so solemn, 
I am afraid to assume them lest I should 
not keep them." So the obligations are in- 
effably solemn ; obligations to take the Lord 
for your everlasting portion ; to renounce 
the Devil and all his works ; to take up the 
cross daily and follow Christ. I would not 
18 



JOIN THE CHURCH? 



bate one jot of their solemn import. I re- 
juice when the appreciation of these is so 
vivid as to make the candidate ponder well 
the step he is about to take. And yet on 
the same ground, you might refuse to put 
yourself privately under bonds of allegiance 
to Christ. These surely are no less solemn 
than obligations assumed toward the Church. 
What can exceed the solemnity of that closet 
covenant in which you gave yourselves to 
God ? Yet you have ventured to make 
that. You fear you may walk inconsistently 
before men — what of your walk before God? 

And as regards your ability to maintain 
your obligations, has Christ called upon you 
to assume any obligation which it is going 
to be impossible for you to observe ? Ah, 
if you went forth to this conflict with sin in 
your own strength ; if you were expected 
to grow into the likeness of your Lord, only 
by such nourishment as poor humanity, the 
best of it, affords, you might well hesitate. 
But even as your trembling lips pronounce 
the words of allegiance, and your eyes look 

19 



WHY SHOULD I 



fearfully at the coming crosses and tempta- 
tions, His voice whispers : " Let not your 
heart be troubled. Believe in me," John xiv. 
i. " Lo, I am with you alway," Matt, xxviii. 
20 ; " and this is the victory which overcom- 
eth the world, even your faith," 1 John v. 4. 
You need not discourage this sense of weak- 
ness. It is what God wants you to feel. 
He does not intend to glorify your strength 
in your Christian conflicts, but to perfect 
His strength in your weakness. 

Withal, it is not at all probable that your 
Christian life will be a perfect life. It will 
be strangely unlike every other Christian life 
if it be not marked by errors and fails. You 
will be a babe in Christ before you shall have 
become a strong man ; and Christian profes- 
sion does not commit you to instant perfec- 
tion of character, any more than birth 
commits you to instant manhood. Becom- 
ing a Christian does not make you perfect. 
It only puts you on the road to perfection. 
And while I give this word of comfort to 
you, I want to give also a word of caution 
20 



JOIN THE CHURCH? 

to those who, so surely as you shall be- 
come a member of Christ's Church, will 
seize upon the first display of your infirmity 
to rebuke you and excuse themselves from 
following you. Please to remember, you 
who censure so sharply, and ask, " Is this a 
specimen of a church member?" — please to 
remember that no Christian claims to be 
anything more than a pupil of Christ : under 
discipline, fighting, not yet victorious. Do 
not look for the crown and the spotless robe 
of triumph while the man is still covered 
with the dust and blood of the fight. After 
all, the stumbling, weak, erring, yet ever 
contending Christian has an advantage over 
you. A quaint old divine of the 17th cent- 
ury, William Gurnall, in his " Christian in 
Complete Armor," puts the case strongly 
and well. " True grace when weakest, is 
stronger than false when strongest. There 
is a principle of Divine life in it which the 
other hath not. Now life, as it gives excel- 
lency, so it gives strength. The slow motion 
of a living man, though so slow that he can 

21 



WHY SHOULD I 

not go a furlong a day, yet coming from life, 
imparts more strength than is in a ship, which, 
though it sails swiftly, hath its motion from 
without." Aye ! There are some of those 
stumbling ones ; some of those who have 
fallen more than once, and whose sad stains 
the Bible is at no pains to conceal, yet whose 
power in the religious thought and feeling 
of the present you yourselves confess. Hear 
a word or two from a man who is called an 
infidel, and who will not be accused of 
any undue partiality for Scripture heroes. 
" David the Hebrew King had fallen into 
sins enough, blackest crimes — there was 
no want of sin. And therefore the unbe- 
lievers sneer, and ask : Is this your man ac- 
cording to God's heart? The sneer, I must 
say, seems to me but a shallow one. What 
are faults — what are the outward details of 
a life, if the inner secret of it, the remorse, 
the -temptations, the often baffled, never- 
ended struggle of it be forgotten? David's 
life and history, as written for us in those 
Psalms of his, I consider to be the truest 

22 



JOIN THE CHURCH? 

emblem ever given us of a man's moral 
progress and warfare here below. All ear- 
nest souls will ever discern in it the faithful 
struggle of an earnest human soul toward 
what is good and best ; struggle often baf- 
fled, sore baffled, driven as into entire 
wreck ; yet a struggle never ended, ever 
with tears, repentance, true unconquerable 
purpose, begun anew." — Carlyle. 

But the other objection : I am not good 
enough. I must feel satisfied with my at- 
tainments in grace before I can unite with 
the Church. And how long will you remain 
outside if you wait for this ? The more you 
know of Christ, the less you will be satisfied 
with self. So long as you shall be honestly 
striving to copy the example of Jesus, your 
own heart will never sign your passport into 
the Church. Do not cherish this mistake 
any longer. As you have looked, with 
hungry eyes, in days past, upon the band 
of Christians at their sacred feast, and have 
longed to be sitting there with them, have 
you thought that they were eating and 

23 



WHY SHOULD I 

drinking in the consciousness of goodness 
or worthiness ? No, no. Not one sincere 
heart was there which, while it glowed with 
gratitude and praise, did not also weep over 
past errors, and conscious weakness and un- 
faithfulness, and mingle the prayer for par- 
don with the hymn of thanksgiving. And 
you will know all about this when you shall 
come (as God grant you may soon come) 
to the Eucharistic feast yourselves. The 
principle on which the Church is founded is 
that of our text. The union of many parts, 
each small and weak in itself; and when a 
man comes to the Church's doors and 
knocks for admission, he does not say, " I 
have attained the standard of holiness re- 
quired for Church fellowship. I am strong 
enough and good enough now to come in 
and live and work with you." No. He 
says : " I am too weak to stand alone. I 
am too inexperienced to escape Satan's 
snares. I must have sympathy or my heart 
will break. I anv ignorant and erring. 
Brethren, open your doors to me. Give me 
24 



JOIN THE CHURCH? 



shelter. Lend me your helping hands. 
Bear with my errors. Let me walk toward 
heaven with you. Take in return what 
little power I have. Use it for Christ, and 
teach me to use it." The Church is for such 
as these : instituted not for the strong, but 
for the weak, not for the wise, but for the 
foolish. 

Sometimes I have heard it said : I am 
not fit to join the Church, because I can 
not name the day and hour of my conver- 
sion. Suppose a traveler should have stood 
by the bank of the Nile twenty years ago, 
and watched the waters come up over the 
land and go down again, leaving the rich 
soil full of seeds, and have seen the fields 
grow green with the coming harvest, and 
then have turned away saying, " The Nile 
flood does no good. I know nothing about 
its source ; " would the harvest be any less 
abundant because the great river hid its 
head ? The question is not when nor how 
you were converted ; but, do you now be- 
lieve in Jesus your Redeemer ? If the power 

25 



WHY SHOULD I 



of Christ is at work in your soul now, 
if the seeds of grace are bearing fruit in 
your life, if its current sets toward God, 
what matters it if the beginnings of all this 
be hidden ? 

There is another objection raised about 
doctrinal peculiarities. Many say : " I can 
not find a Church whose creed covers all 
the points of my belief, or allows me at the 
same time to hold my own convictions on 
certain points." A very wide subject is 
opened here. Yet one or two things may 
be said to purpose. The difficulty is too 
often one of man's making and not of 
Christ's. I am free to say that no Church 
which is conducted upon a true Christian 
basis will present any real difficulty to one 
who sincerely holds the great essentials of 
the Christian faith. The Church is a school. 
She has a right to require of her teachers 
assent to such theological views as the par- 
ticular branch to which they seek admission 
may hold. But she receives members as 
pupils, and has no right to require of them, 
26 



JOIN THE CHURCH? 

as a condition of admission, an assent to 
anything beyond the fundamental doctrines 
of Christianity. By its constitution, the 
particular branch of the Church is bound 
to teach those whom it receives according 
to its own scheme of Christian doctrine. It 
can not do less in common consistency. 
But to require assent, as a condition of 
church membership, to a theological scheme 
to which, in scores of cases, a candidate can 
give neither a conscientious nor an intelli- 
gent assent, is to go in the face of Christ, 
and of the fundamental principles of His 
Church. What the Church has a right to 
require of those who seek her communion 
is, satisfactory evidence that they love our 
Lord Jesus Christ and trust in His merits 
alone for salvation ; that they shall be wil- 
ling to submit to the government and dis- 
cipline of the Church so long as they shall 
remain in it, and be baptized, as Christ com- 
manded (no matter in what way), as the 
outward sign of their union with the body 
of believers. With such credentials as these, 

27 



WHY SHOULD I 



no Church has a right to turn an applicant 
from her doors. And I may be allowed to 
say, that when the Presbyterian Church is 
true to her own declared principles, there 
is no Church on the face of the earth which 
opens a wider door to the true followers of 
Christ than she does. 

And on one other point I must briefly touch. 
It is an important and a delicate one. An 
objection comes sometimes in this form : u I 
am waiting for my wife. I am waiting for 
my husband ; for my brother, or for my sis- 
ter." And I know that, in many cases, this 
consideration is sincerely urged, and is not 
a mere excuse for neglect of duty. Never- 
theless, I can not help feeling that this is a 
matter between each soul and Christ. I 
can conceive cases in which it would be 
quite right to delay uniting with the Church. 
If you resided in a place where there was 
but a single church organization, and if 
union with that required of you assent tc 
what your conscience could not approve, 
you would do wrong to unite with it. Buf 
28 



JOIN THE CHURCH? 



when the question is merely that of accom- 
modating yourself to the delay of the most 
intimate friend, the nearest kinsman, then I 
doubt if you are excused. I repeat — this 
matter is between your own soul and God ; 
between you and your Master, Christ. 
Nothing has a right to stand between you 
and the open door of that fold into which 
He calls all His own sheep. No one has the 
right to stand between you and the duty of 
confessing your Saviour before men. 

With these considerations before you I 
trust that some of you who have been long 
undecided on this important step in Chris- 
tian life, will take it soon. Come to Christ's 
altars, feeling that you come by His express 
command ; that the Church is His own in- 
stitution, and His appointed medium of the 
Christian profession of His followers. 

Come, because your power can be turned 
to best account under the great, matured sys- 
tems of the Christian Church, and in concert 
with the vast power already enlisted there. 

Come, because you need the Church's 

29 



WHY SHOULD I 



shelter, sympathy, and help, so that when 
you fall there maybe the right hand of a 
fellow to lift you up. 

Come, notwithstanding your doubts and 
fears. Your obligations are solemn. It is 
well that you feel their solemnity. May 
God deepen the impression. But remember 
that you assume not one of them in your 
own strength ; that when you speak of 
strength, lo, He is strong ! Remember that 
you will come into no community of perfect 
men and women, but into a society of weak 
and fallible ones who, because each is weak, 
have united to help each other. 

Members of the Church, this approaching 
communion reminds us anew of the princi- 
ple of our church organization. We are the 
Master's representatives in strengthening 
weak hands, confirming feeble knees, and 
saying unto fearful hearts, " Be strong." Our 
testimony of love to Christ is through His 
brethren. Oh, ought we not to strive to 
show those who seek our fellowship that the 
communion of saints is, to us, something 
30 



JOIN THE CHURCH? 

more than a formula ? Ought we not to be 
at more pains to emphasize our fellowship 
to those who are without, to stand at our 
open doors with words of invitation, and 
with outstretched hands? Ought we not to 
be most cautious as to our walk and conver- 
sation, so as not to repel by inconsistency 
those who may be looking toward us with 
interest and even with longing ? 

3i 



By Miss HAVERGAL. 



The Royal Invita TION ; or, Daily Thoughts on 
Coming to Christ. Loyal Responses ; or, Daily M elodies 
for the King's Minstrels. i8mo. Cloth, red edges, 85cts. 

I LlFE MOSAIC ; The Ministry of Song, and Our Work 
and Our Blessings. In one vol., with twelve colored il- 
lustrations of Alpine Flowers and Swiss Mountain and 
Lake Scenery, from drawings by the Baroness Helga Von 
Cramm. 4to. Cloth, gik. $4.00. 

MORNING BELLS ; or, Waking Thoughts for the Little 
Ones. Little Pillows ; or, Good-Night Thoughts for the 
Little Ones. In one vol. 32mo. Cloth. * * * 

Royal Commandments : or, Morning Thoughts 
for the King's Servants. Royal Bounty ; or, Evening 
Thoughts for the King's Guests. i8mo. Cloth, 85 cents. 
'"''For those who have the excellent habit of reading for a 

few minutes each day. Something to arm the soul in the 

morning and rest its weariness at night." 

My Kiag ; or, Daily Thoughts for the King's Children. 
i8mo. Cloth, 40 cents. 

From the 12th thousandth English edition. 

" 1 he beauty and purpose of this little volume are of the 
very highest and comfort has an abiding place in every 
page" 

Our Work and Our Blessings ; or, Under the 

Surface. 24mo. Cloth, gilt, $1.00. 
li A volume of original poems. All are Pervaded by a 
sweet and spiritual tone, and occasionally we come across 
one strikingly beautiful." 

The Ministry of Song. Poems, i8mo. Cloth, 

gilt, 75 cents. 

Either or all of the above sent by mail, postage paid, on 
receipt of the price, by 

ANSON D. F. RANDOLPH & COMPANY, 
. 900 Broadway, Cor. 2Qth St., New Y~~k % 



THE 



LITTLE SANCTUARY, 

AND 

OTHER MEDITATIONS. 



Br ALEXANDER RALEIGH, D.D. 



Dr. Wm. M. Taylor, in The Christian at Work, says i 
" The author is a prince among living English preachers. 

His style is exquisitely finished, and there is a calm, quiet 

fullness in its flow." 

The Christian Intelligencer. 
" One of the most edifying and delightful of practical 
works. Dr. Raleigh has rare ability, taste, and learning. 
His style is refined and elegant, and his treatment of ex- 
Derimental subjects is discriminating. A third edition of 
so good a book indicates its appreciation by cultivated 
minds, and its assured place among standard devotional 
books." 

" We speak a wide circulation for so good and Chris- 
tian a book."— Presbyterian. 

" There is an exquisite flavor and charm in these medi- 
tations."— The Advance. 

•'Good from beginning to end." — The Churchman. 

4 - Warm and generous in tone."— The Congregationalist. 

12mo, cloth, price $1.25. May be obtained of the book- 
sellers, or will be sent, post-paid, on receipt of the price 
Dy the publishers, 

ANSON D. F. RANDOLPH & COMPANY, 
90) Broadway, Cor. 20th St., New York. 



HINTS ON 

Bible Readings, 

WITH A 

COLLECTION OF READINGS FROM VARIOUS 
SOURCES. 

j3Y THE j^EV. jIoHN JilLL. 

l2mo, Cloth, ------ $1.00. 

* Paper, - - 4fj cents. 



*A volume in which the author suggests the plans and 
nethoda of typical Bible Study, and gives a number of ex- 
amples, selected from studies which have teen prepared 
and used by ministers in the regular course of their 
work."— The Interior, 

" The work is well done. We have found great help in 
the way of suggestions and direction in the book, and 
heartily and confidently commend it." —Vermont Chronicle, 

11 Aims chiefly to give suggestive material that can be 
wrought out in the pulpit or prayer meeting."— The 
Advance. 

May be obtained of the booksellers, or will be sent, 
^ftt-paid, on receipt of price by the publishers, 

ANSON D. F. RANDOLPH & COMPANY, 



900 Broadway, Cor. 20th St., New Yoik 



THE 



LIFE OF OUR LORD, 

IN THK 



Words of the Four Evangelists, 

Being the Four Gospels arranged in chrono- 
logical order, and interwoven to form a con- 
tinuous narrative. With an Introductory Note 
by Dr. Wm. M. Taylor. 

"The advantages of this collation of Scripture, for oc- 
casional reading, are very striking. Round in thin limp 
covers, we know of nothing so exac ly adapted to the needs 
of the Christian traveler as this little volume of the very 
marrow of Sacred Truth. The authorized text is adherea 
to, and what we count as a further advantage, the associa- 
tions of a life-time are not violated by the style of letter- 
pi ess. The matter is printed in double columns, without the 
disfigurement of notes. At the close of the volume is an 
Index of Subjects and of Chapters, and a full li^t of renderings 
or preferred readings from Tischendorf."— - The Ei'angelist. 

41 It were well if every one had it." — The Advance. 

u We do not see how anything more perfect in its way 
could well be produced, and we most cordially commend it. ' 
— Parish Visitor. 

u A book which every Christian would delight to have."-— 
So. Churchman. 

Square i8mo, cloth, gilt edges, $1.00. May be obtained ol 
the booksellers, or will be sent by mail, post-paid, on receipt 
of the price by the publishers, 

ANSON D. F. RANDOLPH & COMPANY, 

900 Broadway, cor. SGth St., New York 



SUNDAY-HOUR SERIES. 



24M0, PAPER COVERS. 



GENTLEMAN JIM. By Mrs. E. Prentiss. 25 cts. 

AGATHA LEE'S INHERITANCE. By 

Mrs. M. R. Higham, - - - 30 cts. 

THE SECRET DRAWER, - - - 25 cts. 
UNDER GRAY WALLS. By Mrs. Sarah 

DOUDNEY, 25 CtS. 

[OTHERS IN PREPARATION.] 



4NS0N D. F. RANDOLPH & COMPANY, 

9OO BROADWAY, COR. 20th ST. NEW YORK 
Mailed, post-paid, on receipt of the price. 



The Historic Origin ot the Bible. 



A HAND-BOOK of Principal Facts, from tne besi 
recent authorities, German and English. In three 
Parts, complete in One Volume. Part I. — Thr 
English Bible. Part //.—The New Testament, 
Part ///.—The Old Testament. With Appendices : 
/.— Leading Opinions on Revision. II — On the 
Apocrypha. By Rev. Edward Cone Bissell, A.M. 
With an Introduction by Prof. Roswell D. Hitch- 
cock, D.D., of the Union Theological Seminary, 
N. Y. One vol., small 8vo, 455 pp. $2.00. 

From tne Kev. S. TYLER, D.D., LL.D., 

IVilltston Professor of the Greek Language and Literature^ Amherst 

College, 

" My examination confirms me in my opinion, formed from a cursory 
examination of the manuscript, of the great value and merits of the book. 
It covers a very wide field ; much of it hitherto accessible only to scholars, 
but all of great interest and importance to every reader of the Scriptures. 
It meets a wsint widely felt by the intelligent Christian public, by answer- 
ing in a clear and satisfactory manner, a multitude of questions which they 
have hitherto had no means of answering. At thesame time, there is so 
much accuracy, thoroughness, patience, and conscientiousness in the in- 
vestigation and treatment of the subject, that the book is entitled to a 
high rank among the helps of educated men, ministers and biblical schol- 
irs. The author seeks only to ascertain the tru^to, not to establish a 
theory, or support a tradition. 

ANSON D. F. RANDOLPH & CO., 

900 Broadway, Cor. 20th St., N. Y. 

Stnt in mail, prepaid, on receipt of the price. $2w00. 



